By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

Today, Donald Trump appeared in Washington, D.C. before a biased judge who should recuse herself, in the latest efforts of the Democrats to derail his reelection bid next year.  And I encountered a neighbor who was watering a sick friend's garden, and who angrily said he wasn't going to talk with me anymore.  He made verbally-abusive and threatening comments; and my guess is that he exercised great restraint in not turning the hose on me, or worse.

More than two years ago, Susan Dohrman wrote an article here, entitled "The Importance Of Maintaining Civility."[2]. Since then, the fissures in our body politic have grown wider—almost daily—approximating the divide created by our Civil War and the tragic Vietnam War.  More than four years ago, I met a college classmate's wife for the first time at a reunion; and all was going well until I simply mentioned Trump’s name.  Then, all of a sudden, the niceties vanished like they did today.  She didn't threaten me, but if looks could kill . . .

Today was different though.  The neighbor described the bodily harm that he would like to inflict.  And any mention of Joe Biden's criminality fell on deaf ears.  Years ago, Trump had used our bankruptcy laws to his benefit and that of his businesses; and the neighbor took it personally, and has hated Trump ever since.  Whatever Joe and Hunter Biden had done to enrich themselves never "darkened" his thinking.  He was very angry; and it's the sign of the times.

When the Twin Towers in New York City were destroyed on 9/11, and so many Americans lost their lives, the country came together and the patriotism was immense.  Clearly, China’s Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin are salivating over the divisions in this country.  It's as if they are conquering us without a shot being fired.  Ronald Reagan did that to the former Soviet Union—which fell "disgracefully"—something that Putin has never forgotten in his war against Ukraine.  

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© 2023, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate's Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/   He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service).  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law, and Who's Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2020/12/17/the-importance-of-maintaining-civility/ ("The Importance Of Maintaining Civility")